Here Are the DC Finalists For the James Beard Awards

Today, the James Beard Foundation announced the official list of nominees for the 2012 James Beard Awards from an event held live in Las Vegas and livestreamed over at the Eater mothership. DC chefs fared well in the Best Chef Mid-Atlantic category — taking four of five spots — and Fabio Trabocchi's Fiola nabbed a nomination for Best New Restaurant. Washingtonian food critic Todd Kliman also got a nod for work he did for David Chang's food quarterly Lucky Peach. Here are the local nominees:

Best New Restaurant
Fiola

Best Chef Mid-Atlantic
Cathal Armstrong, Restaurant Eve
Johnny Monis, Komi
Peter Pastan, Obelisk
Vikram Sunderam, Rasika

M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award
Todd Kliman - Lucky Peach

Also worth noting, Dogfish Head's Sam Calagione was nominated for Outstanding Wine & Spirits Professional, while the one non-DC chef nominated in the mid-Atlantic category is Maricel Presilla of Hoboken. Armstrong, Monis and Pastan were all nominated in the category last year as well, but Philly's Michael Solomonov took the win. So maybe this is DC's year? Anyway, the winners of each category will be announced on Monday, May 7, 2012 at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. For full coverage of the nominees, head on over to Eater National.

· Here Are the 2012 James Beard Awards Finalists [Eater National]
· All Previous James Beard Award Coverage [-EDC-]